Alice
by Almost an Actress
Summary: Alice is a thirteen-year-old girl with a few problems. She has low self-esteem, her "friends" torment her, and her parents don't pay enough attention to her. The one thing she can always count on is The X-Files. She's in love with Mulder and Scully feels like a best friend. When she wishes on a star for Mulder to be her own age... Alice may be in for a few surprises!
1. Alice, Meet Fox!

Alice stared at the TV, sighing. It was playing an episode of The X-Files from the 90s. She was a religious X-Files watcher. They way some of the boys in her class practically killed each other in debates over Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, she debated with people online. The way the girls in her class squealed over the newest movie with some girly-boy pop star, she cooed over a certain someone named Fox Mulder to anyone who would listen. You see, as a religious X-Files watcher she knew she had to follow certain rules. A few examples were: Call yourself an "X-Phile," mention Mulder and Scully at any moment, and, of course, watch The X-Files all the time!

She smiled shyly at the man on the screen. Boy, was she in love with Mulder! Not the actor who played him, oh no. He freaked her out. But Mulder himself. He was so sure of himself, so brave and confident, always standing up for what was right.

A big lesson for an insecure thirteen-year-old.

She wished she could be like him. But no, her black bob seemed too blunt, her brown eyes too muddy, her pale skin too washed out. Her friends called her "Alice-Malice" all the time because of her frequent moodiness and grumbling. Sometimes, she wondered if they were even her friends! Her mother reprimanded her for teenage drama, and her father was convinced that she just wanted attention.

_ URG! _

Mulder said a hilarious line on the TV, and Alice let out a weak giggle. Sighing, she picked up her TV remote and muttered, "Sorry Mulder, Scully." She switched off the TV and peaked out the window of her basement.

It was night.

The moon hung brightly in the sky and stars peppered it. She glanced about for any UFOs, but found none. What Alice did find, however, was a star that shone particularly brightly. A wishing star, it was called. She hadn't made a wish on a star like this since she was eight, but she decided to shoot for it.

"Um… star light, star bright," she recited, struggling to remember the old rhyme. "Um… first star I see tonight." Well, it wasn't the _first_ star she'd seen, but it was by far the most distracting. "I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." That part she didn't get. But whatever. "I wish that…" Alice trailed off. What did she wish? That she had better friends? That her parents paid a bit more attention to her? That she had a boyfriend? That she had a sibling her own age?

_Hmm… my own age, _Alice mused. _A boyfriend. Wait… a boyfriend! My own age!_

"I wish Fox Mulder was my own age!" the teenage girl blurted out. "I… I wish that he went to school with me. And… and… I wish he'd be my boyfriend!" In a quieter tone, she murmured, "I wish that he'd be there to protect me. To save me from bullies. To help me stand up for myself."

With that, the girl trudged upstairs to go to bed.

XXX

"What's wrong, Alice-Malice?" Leslie sneered, throwing her sleek brown hair over her shoulder. "Can't find anyone to be meant to?"

"I'm not mean," Alice murmured to her "best friend."

"What was that, Alice-Malice?" Monica asked, examining her perfectly tanned hand and then twirling a blonde ringlet. "Did you just say you weren't mean? That' s a riot." She finished the last part slightly snarky.

"I said I'm not mean!" Alice snapped to her other "BFF."

"Whoa there, pony," Nicole taunted. "No one said you were mean. Did we girls?"

"No," Leslie, Monica, and Nicole chorused.

"Nicole!" Alice shouted. "You just answered your own question! That doesn't even make sense!"

"Calm down, Alice-Malice," Leslie said with a roll of her eyes. "C'mon guys. Miss Malice obviously needs a chance to cool off." With that, the three girls trotted off to make more trouble.

"I _hate_ you all," Alice muttered as they walked away. What the heck was wrong with them? They were always being rude to her, taunting her. Just to get a rise out of her! It was like they _wanted_ her to be mean! "Are you just proving a point to yourself?" Alice growled quietly.

Suddenly, a shrill whistle blasted and a voice yelled, "Recess is over, eighth graders! The sixth graders'll be comin' out soon, and unless you wanna get trampled, I'd git yer thirteen- and fourteen-year-old butts inside! _NOW!_"

The entire eighth grade scurried inside to go to their classes. Alice had life science next. Luckily, Leslie had literature, Monica had Spanish, and Nicole had geometry. Alice ran to her locker and put her lunch box inside, grabbed her science textbook and a few other things, and then hustled up the stairs to life science class. _So much running_, she thought sourly, and went inside her classroom, sitting down at one of the round tables. The people who sat with her were named Dana, Sunny, and Tracy. They were all decent girls, but she wasn't friends with them.

Her teacher, Mr. Morrison, was standing at the front of the room talking to a strange boy. He had sandy brown hair, warm brown eyes, and a pale pallor. From the snatches of conversation that floated from across the room, Alice decided that his voice was serious, yet kind.

Finally, Mr. Morrison turned around with the boy and patted him on the shoulder. "Quiet on the set in five, four, three, two one!" he called to the class. "We have a new student, monkeys."

"_Monkeys?_" Tracy hissed to Dana with a giggle. "That one's new."

Dana nodded with a chuckle, then turned serious. "A new student in the middle of the year?"

Sunny shrugged. "Eh, whatever. Maybe he just moved here."

"Hey! Troublesome Threesome! Shush your bushes!"

Dana, Tracy, and Sunny giggled. Of course the class giggled at the word "Threesome." It was what Mr. Morrison had dubbed the three girls at the beginning of the year. He was constantly threatening to move them, but never did. He was a cool teacher.

"Anyway, this new chap is named Fox Mulder. Be nice to Mr. Fox here." He covered the new boy's ears and hissed, "I hear he bites."

The class giggled, but not at Mr. Morrison's witty remark. One boy called out, "_Mulder?_ What kind of name is that? Do you have a nickname, Fox? Maybe it should be Moldy Mulder!"

"Ha-ha," the new boy said dryly. He turned to Mr. Morrison and said, "Where do I sit?"

Mr. Morrison glared at the boy who said dubbed Fox Mulder "Moldy," and said, "We're talking after class, Jake." To the new boy, he said, "Next to Alice."

Alice was reeling. Her wish had come true. HER WISH HAD COME TRUE! Fox Mulder was in her class! HE WAS A BOY HER OWN AGE AND HE WAS SITTING NEXT TO HER! "Oh, my God," Alice murmured.

"Raise your hand, Miss Alice," Mr. Morrison chided. "How does Fox know who he's sitting next to?"

Alice raised her hand, muttering, "Sorry."

Fox's face brightened. He walked over to her, smiling. "Hi," he said shyly.

"Hi," Alice murmured. "I'm Alice."

"I'm Dana," Dana piped up with a grin. Dana was so sweet that everyone liked her. Fox was sure to become friends with her. Alice had always thought it was funny that The X-Files had a Dana, and her class had one. But she'd asked Dana before.

Dana didn't even know what The X-Files was. She thought it was a brand of ice cream.

"Hey, that's the name of my best friend back home!" Mulder said excitedly.

Alice's eyes widened.

"I'm Tracy," Tracy said, offering a hand.

Fox shook her hand. "Nice to meet you," he smiled.

Sunny grinned like crazy, practically shouting, "I'M SUNNY!"

"You're also loud," Fox muttered so quietly so that only Alice could hear.

Alice giggled. _Part of the wish was that he'd be my boyfriend. Let's hope that part comes true_, she thought happily.


	2. Frank Moldy

**Hey there X-philes! Novi, here! Just watched almost three episodes last night. :D One of my BFFs is the biggest X-phile you will ever see. Ever. She knows everything about this series and is helping me. I've only seen eight episodes, so sorry if I get the details wrong. **

**Much Love,**

**Novi**

**XXX**

"So… this is my house. Not much to see, I guess," Alice said with an awkward shrug. She couldn't believe Fox had taken her up on her offer of a hangout session… at her house! After all, they'd only known each other for a week.

"Do you have any siblings?" Fox asked. His eyes seemed to smolder and blaze with an angry intensity when he said this. It was as if he'd be angry if Alice didn't have siblings. Heck, with a look like that it looked like he'd be angry even if she said she _did_ have siblings.

"Um…" Alice mumbled, lost in his blazing brown eyes. "Er…" She shook her head to clear it, her cheeks growing hot with blush. "Um… yeah. I mean, yeah… I have siblings. A sister named Jamie and a brother named Henry. Jamie is way older than me. She's married and has a son. The son's name is Ian. He is pretty much my favorite person in the world." _Except you_, Alice thought. She quickly followed this up with: _Oh, my God. What are you doing?! You're just rambling. Stupidstupidstupidstupidstup id- _

"I have a sister," Fox said quietly. "Her name was… is… Samantha. Sometimes I used to call her Sammy."

"_Used_ to?" Alice stammered, knowing where this was about to go.

"She… she was abducted-"

"By aliens?" Alice asked quickly.

"_No_," Fox said with a look that was one part amused, two parts annoyed, and three parts hopeful. "Aliens?" He gave her an unconvincing sneer. "Who believes in aliens? Not me. Do you? 'Cuz I don't."

"I… I don't know," Alice stuttered. She sat down on her couch, patting the cushion next to her for Fox to sit down on. He sat next to her and sighed heavily before going on.

"She was abducted by a predator. They called him the Playground Man. They still haven't found her, Alice. But… I know she's alive!"

Alice's eyes widened. "Well that's a lot to take in," she choked out. "Do you tell every girl you've known for a week this sorta stuff?"

Fox ignored her, staring with scary intensity at her coffee table. "They say that the Playground Man hangs out on playgrounds, waiting for kids who wonder too far from their parents." He paused, his eyes filled with horrible knowing and guilt. "Or big brothers."

Alice's breath caught in her throat. She looked at Fox, and Fox looked at her. "You don't mean…" she said.

"Yeah. I took Samantha to the playground one day when she was eight. I was twelve. It was only two years ago but sometimes it feels like I'm an adult or something and she was taken sixty years ago."

"Really," Alice deadpanned. _This wish was stupid. Now I have to deal with his post-sister-kidnapping angst. _

"Really," confirmed Fox. "I was playing my video game, and I didn't look up once. When it had been about thirty minutes, I called her… but she wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere."

"Oh," Alice murmured. She immediately felt bad about her wry thoughts. Even though he had come here by a wish, he was still a person. And he had still lost his little sister. "I'm sorry, Fox. That must be horrible."

Fox shook his head suddenly, the scary smoldering of his eyes gone. "What did I just say? I'm sorry, Alice! Yeesh. You didn't need to know any of that."

"It's okay."

"Let me ask you one thing, though."

"Alright."

"Why aliens?"

Alice's face flushed. "I once heard somewhere about a similar story. But the, er… guy insisted that his little sister was taken by aliens."

"What was the guy's name?"

_CRAP. _"Um… Frank Moldy." _What did I just say?! _

"Weird name."

"Yeah."


	3. THAT STUPID EUPLOTES!

Fox sat in the class, taking notes on a presentation about some sort of protozoan. Though his hand was moving, writing down notes in a neat print, his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about Alice. She sure was pretty when she was bathed in the light of a projector. _Hopeless romantic!_ he scolded himself. After all, he'd dated his best friend Dana, back at his old school, for one month before she broke his heart.

What would make Alice any different?

Well, first of all… she was beautiful. Her sleek black bob hugged the sides of her face, gently curling at her jaw. Her milky skin shone like white silk against whatever outfit she wore. Her eyes flashed with a deep intelligence and understanding masked with sadness. She….

"Fox!"

"Whaaaaaa…?" Fox mumbled, waking up from the nap he was having.

Mr. Morrison raised his eyebrows. "Fox, this isn't the nap house. You're supposed to be taking notes on the euplotes."

Fox blushed, looking down at his paper. It was covered with a neat, curly script that cut off right at _Euplotes are covered with long cilia that are often mistaken for spikes. While they do resemble_-" From there, he had scribbled "_Alice_" about thirteen times, and covered the paper in drool from his short nap.

"Let me see your paper," Mr. Morrison said sternly. "I'm going to have to grade it as is. Sorry, Fox, but you need to learn to pay attention in class."

Fox's face blanched. Not because he was in trouble; screw that! Not because his paper was covered in drool; that seemed trivial! He'd somehow managed to scrawl Alice's name all over his paper. It was a miracle she wasn't at school today to see him fawning over her. "Um… do I have to?" he stammered.

Mr. Morrison raised his eyebrows again and nodded; his mouth was a tight line. "Mr. Mulder."

"Okay," Fox muttered, and handed the paper over, blushing as Dana, Tracy, and Sunny giggled at him. For the rest of the lecture Fox sat, bored.

_I hate the stupid euplotes_, he thought.


	4. Tracy's Bleeding Mouth and Ensnaring

**Here you go, Alice Fernley. You know who you are. Alice is based off of you. Ewan is cuter than Mulder. ;) **

**XXX**

Sunny held a stack of laminated posters, a stoic look on her face. She was an interesting girl, half-black, crazy-curly mini-afro, and a penchant for vintage clothing. Her stoic look came from the task she had been given: Hold the posters while Dana and Tracy put them up.

Dana grabbed one of the posters, inspecting it. It was orange with purple bubble letters announcing _EIGHTH GRADE DANCE! THIS FRIDAY AT FIVE! _She grabbed a stapler from Tracy and stapled the poster to a corkboard just for eighth grade announcements.

Fox walked down the hall, eyeing the poster. "There's a dance this Friday?" he questioned the Troublesome Threesome.

Tracy nodded, not bothering to turn around. When she did, Fox found himself greeted with a blonde, short-haired girl with a mouth full of tacks. "Mffff mmmm!" she replied around the tacks. Suddenly, her eyes began to water and blood seeped from her mouth. She spit the tacks on to the floor, yanking about four out of her tongue, yelping and cursing. "Nurth!" she screamed, her bloody tongue protruding from her motuh "Nurth mow!"

Dana grabbed Tracy's arm and ran off in the direction of the nurse, crying, "Finish putting up the posters, Sunny!"

Fox blanched. "Uhm… that was my fault. Sorry. Tell Tracy that I'm _reeeeeeeeaaaaallly_ sorry."

Sunny waved her hand nonchalantly. "You just made an enemy of her, Foxy." With that, she offered a cheerful smile and began picked up the bloodied tacks, humming a soft tune.

Fox shrugged and walked on, wondering if he could invite Alice. He walked into the lunchroom, looking for her. They'd sat together for the past couple weeks. Whenever three girls in particular flounced by, she always shrank back. She seemed to loathe and fear these girls. Fox hadn't pushed the issue…. That was… until he saw her sitting with these three girls, her eyes flashing _Fox! HELP ME! _

He careened over to the table, plopping down next to Alice. "So, Allie," he narrated with a cocky grin, "you abandoned me for the Poplars, huh?"

Alice managed a tentative smile. She shrugged. "They ensnared me," she said quietly.

"Well then, let me ensnare you over here so I can ask you to the dance."

With that, Alice nearly fainted.


End file.
